Running lost in New Zealand

Discovery. This is one of the pleasures I get from running. A number of the fantastic discoveries that have come my way I found because I got lost while out on a run. This was exactly what happened to me more than once while out on a few runs during my and my husband’s recent visit to Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland, New Zealand, for my youngest (full) brother’s wedding.

Dunedin: first encounter with the hills

For my first run in Dunedin, I decided not to wander far from the campus grounds of Otago University. I thought the route I chose was mostly flat, until I found myself at the bottom of a steep street (the map did not indicate mounds of any sort). By this time, I had already taken several wrong turns (that is, based on my ill-conceived route) and decided to let my wandering feet lead the way. As a tourist, I should have known that my feet were ignorant of the local environs.

Boston Marathon

After completing the Marathon du Médoc in 2010, I quit running marathons and decided to concentrate on shorter races and to eventually train for triathlons. I abandoned this decision  when terrorists left home-made bombs close to the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. 

Zuma’s revenge

Meet Zuma.

Zuma (Soma GlobalOne GPS watch)

I’ve never given any of my running watches a name before but Zuma is special. I bought it yesterday, just last night to be precise, as a birthday present for myself.  Of course, I took it, as well as another birthday present I bought (bright pink running shoes), out for a run today.

Malaise in March

The early days of March promised an exciting and action-packed month. On the first two days of March, I was on a ski trip to Zao, a resort I have never visited before, and stayed at an old lodge that was taken over by a fun, young and genuinely hospitable snow-loving couple. Then a couple of days later, I went to the Rolling Stones concert On Fire, and they sang my three favorite songs, which as far as I can tell on youtube they have not done before.

But the promise quickly turned to nought. On the Friday after the concert, I woke up to a massive headache, pervasive joint aches, slight fever, cough, loss of voice and painful tonsillitis. I was confined to bed that day and for the next three days. I had no appetite and no energy, and spent those days sipping Bovril beef tea, English tea and my husband’s lemon-ginger “tea” with a dash of whiskey. I lost close to four kilos – no, I do not recommend getting sick to lose weight. My BG was surprisingly low – no, I do not recommend getting sick to lower one’s BG (on the contrary, illness is bound to raise a diabetic’s blood glucose).